The water supply circuit in a building is generally made up of pipes connected to one another using press fittings provided with rubber gaskets. A press fitting is a fitting including a groove in which a gasket is located, installed to constitute a network, then deformed by pressing using a clamp suitable for performing crimping and making the fitting inseparable before water pressure is applied. Such an assembly therefore consists of inserting a pipe either around the fitting or inside the fitting. In the first case, the groove faces the outside of the fitting and the gasket is mounted, in the groove, over its inner diameter on the fitting. In the second case, the groove is turned toward the inside of the fitting and the gasket is mounted over its outer diameter in the fitting. The network can be made from metal pipes such as copper, cross-linked or non-cross-linked PE, single or multilayer, optionally with metal layer, etc.
In all cases, the sealing of the fitting is essential. Indeed, a building with several floors may contain hundreds or even thousands of fittings, and water damage may be very detrimental to the worksite or the building in use, these fittings often being placed in the walls or partitions and therefore being accessible.
Yet the insertion of the pipe may cause the gasket to rotate around itself, or cause it to leave the groove. The state of the art proposes means for stabilizing the gasket in the groove, for example a gasket whose axial section, which is then not circular, includes a portion with a larger curve radius, or even straight, this section being intended to be placed in the bottom of the groove. In this way, the gasket is “stabilized” in the bottom of the groove.
One drawback of this solution is that if the gasket nevertheless still rotates in the groove, it may either have a larger section and make the assembly harder, or have a smaller section and compromise the sealing.